How Do You Handle Unsolicited Requests?

If you have a contact form on your website, EVEN with a CAPTCHA to help with spam, you’re going to get the occasional spam request. If your industry isn’t in your title, or your title leads people to believe you’re in a different industry, you get emails like this one that I received last week…

Good Day indeed! Typically I just delete the emails, but this one was worthy of a screen shot and an Instagram post.

If you are contacting some one through an online form hoping that eventually they’ll hire you, here’s a couple of suggestions:

Know what their business is. This isn’t hard – it’s on my home page. I’m not a dog groomer. I also have a short haired dog who you can clearly see, on almost every page of my website, doesn’t need to be shaved.

Check for Typos – we all make mistakes, but do a once over before you hit submit

Be Specific in who you want to talk to – “Hi to Everyone at Yellow Dog Consulting” – when it’s very obviously a one woman/one dog show. You can find out my name pretty easily….

Be Polite – Alex is polite but pushy. He doesn’t bother to ask if I am accepting guest blog posts. He clearly hasn’t looked at my blog to see it’s been a while since I had a guest blogger, AND that I have never written about dog grooming on my blog.

Give me More Info – I know literally nothing about this guy and he doesn’t give me any info. They wrote a new article (good for you) do I want to share it with my readers (please cast your response in the comments below!)?

Who are you?

Why are you an authority on this topic?

How did you find my website?

Do we know anyone in common?

The next time you’re contacting someone via a form, take into consideration how you respond to these requests and make sure you’re handling it in a way that you would appreciate.

About Us

Yellow Dog Consulting is a sales and marketing firm located in Hillsboro, Oregon with clients throughout the Pacific Northwest. We work with small business owners who love what they do, but the sales and marketing part of their job sucks their will to live.